Mashio Y, Kawaguchi H. Detecting early symptoms of mental health deterioration using handwriting duration parameters.
Neuropsychopharmacol Rep 2020;
40:246-253. [PMID:
32621575 PMCID:
PMC7722646 DOI:
10.1002/npr2.12123]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2019] [Revised: 05/10/2020] [Accepted: 05/26/2020] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION
Recent years have witnessed a rapid rise in the incidence of mental health deterioration, such as depression and depressive symptoms. Therefore, early detection and measures of prevention have become important. This study aimed to develop a predictive method for assessing the incident risk of mental health deterioration by examining the associations between mental health and handwriting duration.
METHODS
A cohort study over four years was performed with 200 university students who volunteered to participate in this study. Participants received the Uchida-Kraepelin test every April and completed the 30-item general health questionnaire to evaluate their mental health. From the stroke data obtained from the digital pen in the Uchida-Kraepelin test, two kinds of intervals were extracted. Based on these interval ratios, participants were divided into two groups. We then examined the scores of the questionnaire between the high-risk group and the low-risk group in the first year of the study. In addition, multiple logistic regression analysis was used to examine whether those in the high-risk group in the first year still belonged to the high-risk group in the fourth year.
RESULTS
In the "Anxiety and Dysphoria scale" in the first year, the high-risk group had a significantly higher score than the low-risk group. Additionally, it was found that those in the high-risk group in the first year tended to still be in the high-risk group in the fourth year.
CONCLUSION
These results suggested that the indicator that we developed can be used as a predictive factor for the incident risk of mental health deterioration.
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